


Ain't Nobody But Me (TUA AU)

by MycroftianTimelady



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: After Life, Alternative moment, Angst, Angsty Klaus, Diego and Klaus are bros, M/M, Sorry no Ben, Umbrella Academy - Freeform, dave - Freeform, tragic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-11-21 11:36:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18141668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MycroftianTimelady/pseuds/MycroftianTimelady
Summary: Angsty one-shot in which Ben can't physically manifest, so Klaus has to intervene. Based on a request by a dear friend of mine. Disclaimer: I have not read the comics (shoot me now, I'm sorry) but have ordered them online so I shall no longer be a heathen.





	Ain't Nobody But Me (TUA AU)

**Author's Note:**

> Title: Ain't Nobody But Me by Supertramp
> 
> Disclaimer: I have not read the comics (shoot me now, I'm sorry) but have ordered them online so I shall no longer be a heathen. 
> 
> Also, I love Ben! I love writing Ben! Just for the purpose of the fic, unfortunately Ben can't physically manifest. Sorry x

Klaus

“Don’t forget Mom.”  
He’d just caught the sound of Luther’s voice before he and Diego bolted down the corridor amidst the tremors of Vanya’s destruction. Picking up speed, he sprinted behind his brother, feet catching on the rubble that had already begun to form. Was this real? Or yet another slip under the veil of reality? Whatever it was sucked: his own little sister turned psycho… But who the heck could blame her, the shit she’d been put through?  
As he’d become an addict to the substances, she had slipped into the comfort of thought: thoughts that festered over the past, obsessing and despising. He’d seen it too many times in lost people: the grudges they bore were consuming – and god, he knew how it felt to be utterly consumed.  
Blasts echoed throughout the house, each sound, an aching in his chest. He felt every tremor in the ground, but still he kept running, trying to keep Diego in sight. Diego: he would keep him centred, focused. Although his post-high haze wasn’t helping, as the last effects were crawling from his grasp. An aching in his chest: the vibrations of the explosions? The strain of the exercise? No. No… No no no not back there… anywhere but there…  
His hands gripped his hair as he ran, an explosion to the left, rubble falling like snow from the ceiling: eyes closed as the jungle built around him. It was hot, humid, sticky, and the low hum of a chopper came from above. A-Shau Valley. Hisses of gas, dull fury of bombs from behind, from above.  
“Mom!”  
A voice in the haze – his commander? No, his brother.  
“Where is she?” he managed to spit out as they rounded the top of the stairs. Another fall of rubble sent them to the floor, and he clutched at his head again, trying desperately to escape the hell of his own mind. Flashing lights and snatches of gunfire echoed in his mind. He breathed in slowly, breath catching in his nose as the panic attack sent him into helpless hyperventilation.. He rolled a little, hoping to bring something real into the nightmare, to pull himself out of the illusion. He winced at the spikes of glass beneath his torso, shifting himself to face the ceiling. From above, the ceiling began to crack. Time to move. He scrambled with sudden instinct to escape.  
Diego. Diego wasn’t moving.  
“Diego!”  
Reaching out, shaking his brother’s arm.  
“Diego!”  
He’d been here before, clutching at another. Screaming for a medic.  
“Diego!”  
All fell into slow motion..  
“Goodbye, sweet world.” He whispered. As he threw himself over his brother’s body.

Diego

Everything ached like hell. Raw pain, the ringing kid of that which cannot be escaped. Weight from above, pinning him down… and a headache that sent the whole world swooping in his half-opened eyes. His legs were… functioning? Just about. And his fingers were moving pretty smoothly. But something told him he was in a shit tonne of danger…  
Then he noticed the body above him. And the cracks in the marble floor.  
Surging forwards, he pushing himself from the floor, lifting himself onto his knees. His vision still a fuzzy mess. What had happened?  
Vanya.  
Luther had locked up their sister.  
And now she was taking her revenge.  
Things gradually came back into focus. First his sight… then, his rationality.  
A body. There had been a body above him.  
Sharp, like a bullet from a gun, the fear shot through his mind. Turning round to face the rubble.  
“K-k-k-klaus… K-klaus!” his brother, blood-streaked and limp. Tears stained black streaming down his cheeks. His eyes were open: piercing, and sad, and beautiful as they had always been. A tragic, beautiful sadness.  
Choked in the throat, anguish ripping through his chest, Diego screamed for his brother. Still shrapnel fell all around, pockets of dust trickling from the cracks in the ceiling. He lifted the square of concrete and threw it with angry force, then scooped the fragile body into his arms.  
“No no no no no!” Weeping, clutching as the empty shell that was Klaus, burying his face into Klaus’ shirt. He couldn’t be dead… He wouldn’t die, he was too goddam stubborn. And anyway… Klaus could see him any time as a ghost! No. That had always been Klaus’ power. It wouldn’t work the other way round, would it? It was a stupid, stupid thought. Klaus wasn’t coming back.

 

 

 

Klaus  
Black. And white.  
Rustling trees, and.. birds, for some reason.  
Oh shit.  
He was back.  
“Hello Klaus. You’re still looking pale.”  
“Well, I do try. It’s good to see you again… I think.” He rolled his shoulders back. It was nice to feel the sun on his face again.  
“Believe in me a little more now?” She raised an eyebrow.  
“It’s gonna take me a while, honey. Just tell me you’re not going to send me to my asshole Dad again, okay?”  
“There’s someone waiting for you. Hurry, please. Time’s winged chariot hurries near.”  
“And it’s not my Dad?”  
She didn’t answer. This time he did not run.  
There was a cabin in the distance, a small wooden thing. Déjà vu.  
A deep breath in, Klaus looked to the skies as he gave his dog tags one last kiss. Then he opened the door slowly and stepped inside. On foot after the other. Music filled his ears, full of soul and hope and feeling. It was heady and exciting in this place, but it was so full of people: a crowd which did not want to part. He still struggled on, squeezing through the gaps, ignoring the shady offers of a gram which seemed to pop up now and again, offered by strangers of unreadable faces.  
And then he was through. An empty space welcoming him. And a shadowy figure from across the room. Stepping out into the amber light.  
“Dave.”


End file.
